Ss. Peter & Paul, Apostles

The two foremost Apostles, kept together on 29 June. St Peter confessed Christ as 'the Son of the living God', and the Fathers read the rock of Matthew 16:18 as the faith of that confession rather than as an office lodged in one man: so St John Chrysostom, and after him the Greek tradition. Peter is first in order among the Twelve and is counted founder of Antioch and of Rome. St Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, wrote fourteen epistles and carried the Gospel across the empire. Both were martyred at Rome under Nero, about 64 to 67. Feast: June 29.